Brownie Pudding Cake with Toffee Frosting (vegan, gluten-free)

12:30 AM

I love cake. If you read this blog you probably already know that about me. I have a lot of cake memories too. Take for example, the ...

I love cake. If you read this blog you probably already know that about me. I have a lot of cake memories too. Take for example, the double chocolate fudge and Smarties cake my childhood best friend's mom made without fail for every birthday (and every family member). Or the banana chocolate chip cake my best friends and I went for religiously at 4am after dancing in our early 20s. These days I try to make sure the cakes I consume are delicious but also moderately healthy, vegan and gluten-free. Sometimes this seems like an impossibility. If you feel like this too, you're in luck. Today's recipe ticks all the right boxes and tastes awesome. Just ask my husband who ate 3/4 of this cake in an hour...

I do not always eat vegan, though I try to 99% of the time. But when it comes to the desserts I make I do my best to make them vegan every time. Why? Because the only ingredients that hold the majority of desserts back from being vegan are eggs, milk and gelatin -- and there are several healthy and affordable vegan substitutes for all of them. So why not be kind to our animal friends? I'm not shaming anyone here, its just my rationale.

Back to this cake. This spongy, pudding-like, brownie-inspired chocolate cake. Its as healthy as can be and gluten free, but tastes decadent. It features sweet potato, buckwheat, raw cacao and virgin coconut oil. Its naturally sweetened with maple and stevia. What's not to love?Then there's the toffee frosting? Made mostly of dates, rice syrup and coconut oil -- this frosting is a healthy alternative to icing sugar-based icings and tastes sweet and sinful. You've got to try it!If you're in cake kind of mood but want to make it guilt and gluten-free, this one's for you!

Brownie Pudding Cake:

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and steamed till soft

1 cup water

1/4-1/3 cup raw cacao powder

Pinch pink salt

1/3 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp brown rice syrup or raw honey (yes, I know that honey is not vegan)

2 tbsp evoo

Stevia, to taste

3-4 tbsp coconut oil

1-1.5 cups buckwheat flour

Preheat oven to 350F. Puree all the ingredients together
until smooth. Taste and adjust sweetness with more stevia as you need
it, stirring and tasting as you add it little by little (the taste
should be sweet but not sickly sweet). Pour into a parchment paper lined
square cake pan. Spread out to sides. Bake in the center of the oven
until semi firm to the touch with a slight spring back.

Let cool then frost with Toffee Frosting (recipe below).

Toffee Frosting:

5 large soft medjool dates, pitted

1/2 cup water

2 tbsp coconut oil

Pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp rice syrup

1 tbsp coconut milk powder

Puree till smooth. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before using. Use as frosting.